[2014-05-22]Three cases in which big chunks of the population don’t agree with the self-appointed experts. (Plus, cute pictures of Ruri Hoshino, the “Electronic Fairy”)

The experts are accustomed to using centralized media to control the scope of acceptable discourse. They use a broad range of chattering puppets to plunk out creaky tunes on the “Mighty Wurlitzer.”

P. J. O’Rourke flatters himself with the notion that he has a general understanding of science.

P. J. O’Rourke doesn’t know a damn thing about medicine or science; he just gets paid to bash hippies, and so he does. If the crystal-fondling New Agers were paying him, he would be just as happy to bash mercury-based vaccines.

O’Rourke does have a general understanding of the mob mentality; he understands that if he is the one shouting and sneering and flinging insults, he has a high chance of leading the mob instead of getting trampled by it.

But experts cannot always lead the mob. Frequently experts try to rile up a mob, and then those same experts get trampled by the mob they stirred up.

Do you believe the government actively works to suppress alternative medicine? Do you think they already know cell phones cause cancer and are simply refusing to do anything about it? Do you use nutritional supplements? If you responded yes to any of these questions, you could be the type of person that a new JAMA study paints as a simple-minded “medical conspiracy kook”.

Last week, in a move overshadowed by the international outcry over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Plebiscito.eu, an organization representing a coalition of Venetian nationalist groups, held an unofficial referendum on breaking with Rome. Voters were first asked the main question—”Do you want Veneto to become an independent and sovereign federal republic?”—followed by three sub-questions on membership in the European Union, NATO, and the eurozone. The region’s 3.7 million eligible voters used a unique digital ID number to cast ballots online, and organizers estimate that more than 2 million voters ultimately participated in the poll.

On Friday night, people waving red-and-gold flags emblazoned with the Lion of St. Mark filled the square of Treviso, a city in the Veneto region, as the referendum’s organizers announced the results: 2,102,969 votes in favor of independence—a whopping 89 percent of all ballots cast—to 257,266 votes against. Venetians also said yes to joining NATO, the EU, and the eurozone. The overwhelming victory surprised even ardent supporters of the initiative, as most polls before the referendum estimated only about 65 percent of the region’s voters supported independence.

He’s just as funny as he was 40 years ago at National Lampoon. [Baloo is jabbing me with his elbow, and insists that I point out that he, too, used to write for that magazine, and that I have just done.]

I’ve been a harsh critic of O’Rourke ever since he failed to fact-check some stupid inaccuracies about Tibetan Buddhism more than 20 years ago. And yet Ex-Army and Baloo have been trying to expand their horizons to include more anime girls.

So I feel a little bit bad for bashing P. J. O’Rourke when I should be praising them for using fine illustrations of the not-very-cuddly Makise Kurisu. To compensate for my needless and spiritually-under-evolved hostility, I present anime’s greatest female computer scientist, Ruri Hoshino:

And Even Though We Do This With An Ironical Distance

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